MOHAMMAD-TAGHI MORADI¹, DHIYA ALTEMEMY², MAJID ASADI-SAMANI^3,*, PEGAH KHOSRAVIAN¹, MARZIYEH SOLTANI³, LEILA HASHEMI¹, AZADEH SAMIEI-SEFAT³

Oncology Research, Vol.32, No.7, pp. 1231-1237, 2024, DOI:10.32604/or.2024.047187

Abstract Background: Despite the availability of chemotherapy drugs such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), the treatment of some cancers such as gastric cancer remains challenging due to drug resistance and side effects. This study aimed to investigate the effect of celastrol in combination with the chemotherapy drug 5-FU on proliferation and induction of apoptosis in human gastric cancer cell lines (AGS and EPG85-257). Materials and Methods: In this in vitro study, AGS and EPG85-257 cells were treated with different concentrations of celastrol, 5-FU, and their combination. Cell proliferation was assessed using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The synergistic effect… More >

FENGMEI QIAN^1,2, PEIYAO REN², LI ZHAO², DANNA ZHENG², WENFANG HE³, JUAN JIN^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.8, pp. 1853-1867, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.029353

Abstract Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a serious complication of diabetes with rising prevalence worldwide. We aimed to explore the anti-DN mechanisms of the compound celastrol derived from the medicinal plant Tripterygium wilfordii. Methods: Celastrol-related targets were obtained from Herbal Ingredients’ Targets (HIT) and GeneCards databases. DN-related targets were retrieved from GeneCards, DisGeNET, and Therapeutic Targets Database (TTD). A Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established using the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes (STRING) database. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses were performed using ClusterProfiler. The cytoHubba plugin… More > Graphic Abstract

Yaru Zhu^1,2,3, Xiujun Zhang¹, Yansheng Zhang³, Shiyou Lü^1,4,*, Changfu Li^1,3,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.91, No.2, pp. 279-291, 2022, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2022.017625

Abstract Tripterygium wilfordii has been renowned mostly because of the anticancer effects of its root extracts, which is partly ascribed to the presence of celastrol, a pentacyclic triterpenoid, as one of the main active components. Celastrol also has recently been reported as an effective prodrug in the treatment of obesity. Despite the promising activities, the pathway leading to celastrol biosynthesis, especially cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme(s) that occur in its downstream steps, are largely unknown. This study conducted a comparative analysis of the T. wilfordii transcriptome derived from its root and leaf tissues. Differential gene expression analysis identified a More >